farcical underplot which is only connected very slightly with the main
story by Sir Tophas' ridiculous passion for Dipsas. His love in fact is
presented as a kind of caricature of Endymion's, and he is the
laughing-stock of a number of pages who gambol and play pranks after the
usual manner of Lyly's boys. The solution of the allegory lies mainly in
the interpretation of Tellus' character, and I cannot but agree with Mr
Bond when he decides that Tellus is Mary Queen of Scots. He is perhaps
less convincing where he pairs Endymion with Sidney, and Semele with
Penelope Devereux, the famous _Stella_. Lastly we may notice his
suggestion that Tophas may be Gabriel Harvey, which certainly appears to
be more probable than Halpin's theory that Stephen Gosson is here
meant[117]. But the whole question is one of such obscurity, and of so
little importance from the point of view of my argument, that I shall
not attempt to enter further into it.

[117] Halpin, _Oberon's Vision_, Shakespeare Society, 1843.

In _Endymion_ Lyly shows that his mastership of St Paul's has increased
his knowledge of stage-craft. For example, while _Campaspe_ contains at
least four imaginary transfers in space in the middle of a scene,
_Endymion_ has only one: and it is a transfer which requires a much
smaller stretch of imagination than the constant appearance of Diogenes'
tub upon the stage whenever and wherever comic relief was considered
necessary. There is improvement moreover in characterization. But the
interesting thing about this play is Shakespeare's intimate knowledge of
it, visible chiefly in the _Midsummer Night's Dream_. The well-known
speech of Oberon to Puck, directing him to gather the "little western
flower," is to all intents and purposes a beautiful condensation of
Lyly's allegory. One would like, indeed, to think that there was
something more than fancy in Mr Gollancz's suggestion that Shakespeare
when a boy had seen this play of Lyly's acted at Kenilworth, where
Leicester entertained Elizabeth; little William going thither with his
father from the neighbouring town of Stratford. But however that may be,
_Endymion_ certainly had a peculiar fascination for him; we may even
detect borrowings from the underplot. Tophas' enumeration of the charms
of Dipsas[118] foreshadows Thisbe's speech over the fallen Pyramus[119],
while, did we not know Lyly's play to be the earlier, we might suspect
the page's song near the sleeping knight to be a c